Starflight
by queenpearl
Summary: Based on the movie Starflight One. Columbia has one hell of a task ahead of her!
1. Chapter 1

Side by side they ran, each long powerful stride kicking up a wave of sand behind them. One the inside was a white winged craft, sleek and agile. The craft on the outside was larger, bulging with powerful muscles that extended well past her black wings. They were nose to nose, nothing between them. They made the turn, leaning to the inside as each attempted to cut the corner a little more than the other. As they came around, the white winged craft poked her nose in front as centrifugal force carried her opponent wide. But the effect was sort lived. The black winged craft extended her stride, head lowering as she picked up speed. She came back inside with a half length advantage. To her inside she could hear her sister huff as her smaller body worked to regain the ground that she lost. But it was no good as Columbia outran Discovery across the finish.

Both shuttles immediately slowed, checking their stride into a gentle taxi trot. Both were panting, hulls glistening with sweat. The desert environment was hot and the sand itched in their landing gear bays. But the strength gained over a good workout was worth the minor discomforts. "What do I have to do to beat you?" Discovery asked when they could speak again. "Grow a new body." Columbia replied. Discovery snorted, shoving her big sister good naturedly as the pair made their way to the washdown. Columbia nipped her tailfin in reply.

The cold water felt wonderful as it ran across their hot bodies. Their solid carbon coats made for great insulation up in space but down here they were more of a burden. Columbia, being bigger and carrying more black on her than Discovery, was more susceptible to the heat so she relished the cold shower even more. "That new jet's supposed to take off today." Columbia said. "Is that the one that can go hypersonic?" Discovery asked as Columbia moved directly underneath the faucet. She quivered in delight as the cold water ran down her back. "Yeah, it's called Starflight. Supposed to get ya from Florida to Sydney in 90 minutes." Columbia answered. "Huh, well there goes our careers." Discovery muttered. "Starflight may be a high altitude plane but she ain't a spacecraft." Columbia reassured her. "Good for us, bad for Concorde." Columbia shrugged. "Progress dear sister, progress."

Stepping out of the shower the two shuttles were met by Thornwell. Seeing the look on his face, Columbia could tell her day was far from over. "What's the problem?" She asked. "Very observant Columbia." Thornwell answered. "The problem is Starflight." "What's happened?" Discovery asked. "A Delta rocket launched from Australia without NASA's authorization failed to enter 3rd stage. They had to destroy it and the debris cut Starflight's engine controls." "So they can't stop?" Columbia asked. "It's worse than that I'm afraid. Starflight's engines have burned out but only after using all their fuel and since the last command they received was to go into optimum climb..." "They're in orbit." Thorwell nodded. _"Shit!"_ Columbia thought. "What's their flight path?" She asked, listening carefully to Thornwell's answer. The calculations were complex and Columbia quickly worked them through her head. With no fuel left to refire them and no means to control the engines if they did start, Starflight's orbit would degenerate after just 50 hours. She'd assume the worst and guess their air supply would run out before that. There was only one option. She straightened. "Mr. Thornwell, request permission to get the crawler going and to prep the pad for immediate launch." "Granted. Get your tail over to the OPF." Columbia nodded and practically sprinted off in that direction. Already, her head was swimming with numbers. Launch vectors, orbital positioning, everything a shuttle needed to function in space. It was a lot to consider and normally, she'd have weeks to prepare. She had 12 hours.


	2. Chapter 2

Columbia launched on time, on schedule if this compressed timeline could even be called a proper schedule. _"Proper."_ She thought with a disdained snort. _"Anything proper and textbook has been tossed out the airlock and sent through atmospheric interface."_ Her annoyance was caused mainly by concern. Launching on such short notice was dangerous. With so many complicated procedures and with such a complicated machine, she couldn't even begin to count how many ways this could go terribly wrong. As each call was read, Columbia reviewed and re-reviewed her safety procedures in case something failed and an abort was called. But once she had shed her boosters, the concern was replaced by curiosity. Just what would she find up there?

She found out soon enough. Clear of the jettisoned external tank, Columbia rolled on her back getting a unique perspective on the world below. _"Well, not quite unique."_ She corrected herself, spotting the airliner off to her port side. Starflight at least had some brain cells still working as she'd adopted the proper position for orbit. Belly up, head down. Columbia estimated her to be at 25 degrees, much shallower than she herself was at. This would be a tricky rendezvous. But Columbia was experienced, a seasoned veteran of 5 years in space. She understood the 0g environment better than anyone else in the world. With precision timing and agility, she swooped effortlessly into position along Starflight's starboard side. Her eyes scanned the larger craft's frame for damage. "You alright?!" She called. "Hmm, picture perfect views, no turbulence. Yeah, I think I'm good." Starflight replied. Columbia chuckled, relieved the hypersonic jet had a sense of humor and she wouldn't have to deal with a hysterical aircraft.

A fuel line was passed across. Columbia's hollow wings had been stuffed with LHO. She felt somewhat relieved as it left her. At least now she didn't have to worry about exploding. "That should be enough to get you down to a runway. But we need to find a way to get you through the atmosphere first." She said. "Easier said than done. I ain't built for spaceflight Columbia. If I go through that, I won't be coming out. Alive anyways." And Columbia wasn't keen on seeing a melted ball of twisted metal when she landed either. "NASA'll think of something." She tried to reassure her although she wasn't sure how they would when she herself had no idea on where to begin getting Starflight down!


	3. Chapter 3

Columbia landed with her usual grace at Thornwell, taxing easily over to the gathered engineers. "What's the word?" asked Mr. Thornwell. "The main control cables to the engines are cut. She can sure as hell start those rockets but she can't shut them down." Columbia replied. "Can you fix it?" He asked. Columbia hesitated. "Columbia, _can_ you fix it?" He pressed. She nodded. "It's doable. But it'll take some time and that's not something we have a lot of. What's their air look like?" She asked. "30 hours, no more." "Shit!" Columbia cursed. "Well, if you can get me the tools then, I can get back up there and get to work." She said. "Columbia are you sure? Two flights in one day is a lot." Discovery questioned. "Before I joined NASA, I was used as a test bed. Enterprise did the easy stuff, I did the harder stuff. Trust me, I can manage." Columbia reassured her. Discovery conceded, joining her sister on her way to the fuel stand. If she was going back up, she wouldn't be doing so on an empty tank.

Another 12 hours later and Columbia was back out on the launch pad. After the chaos preceding the last mission, Columbia already had many of the vectors worked out which left her mind free to focus on other things. In particular, just how she was going to repair Starlight's damaged engines. Columbia was a bona fide jack of all trades. She knew how to do anything and everything. She was one of the few non-human licensed mechanics and could fix just about every type of engine there was. Starlight's engines however were a new breed and while Columbia had done her homework she wasn't completely confident that she could get a fix in. Failure was not an option but not trying at all was out of the question. She _had_ to try! And if she couldn't find a fix, she'd make one! She glanced at the clock and winced. Each second it ticked down felt like an eternity! The 12 hour turnaround, while impressive, just wasn't going to cut it. They had just a day of air left up there and if this schedule kept up the way it was, she would be hard pressed to get in a third launch if she couldn't get everything done on this one.

"Just another day in the office." She sighed, then chuckle. The little laugh doing wonders to release the tension. At last, the count hit zero and almost before it started counting up, Columbia was clear of the tower, executing a near perfect roll maneuver on her way back into the black.


	4. Chapter 4

To say Columbia was a bit nervous about this next rendezvous would be an understatement. Besides her planned repair, Thornwell had fitted her with a Universal Docking Device that could be used to evacuate the passengers. It could hold 20 people and ensure most of the passengers could return safely to earth. The problem was it could only be used once and there were twice that number remaining aboard Starflight. This would require a third trip and unless Thornwell could find a way to process her faster after landing, that just wasn't going to happen. But it wasn't this that had Columbia worried. The last time she'd tried docking, it'd cost the life of the flight engineer.

This time, she was far more delicate than she needed to be as she lined up the tunnel to Starflight. Starflight guided her in, her patience matching Columbia's caution. Columbia didn't require Starflight's guidance but it was appreciated all the same. It gave the injured airplane something to do. "Contact." Columbia reported after an hour of delicate maneuvering. The tunnel wiggled like a slinki in the 0g environment. But the first 5 people made it safely through. Both craft breathed a sigh of relief.

It was short lived. Murphy's Law reared its ugly head in the form of the sparking patch of cut wires. The tunnel brushed against it and ignited. Columbia had no choice but to close her hatches and retreat or else she would've been destroyed too. She looked across the void at Starlight and the horror in those eyes told her all she needed to know. _"Make that 6 dead in this hopeless endeavor."_ Columbia thought. But Air Force discipline ran deep in her and right on the heels of that, she steeled herself. _"You've got a job to do Columbia, now get back to work!"_ She did quick work repairing the cut control cables. She wasn't a hundred percent positive that they would work but they should hold at least long enough for Starlight to touch solid ground again. "I've gotta get these people back down, but as soon as I can I'll rejoin you." Columbia said. "Tell NASA to get a move on this time. Your turnarounds are too slow to make a third attempt at this rate." Starlight replied. "Tell me something I don't know." Columbia grumbled. "On second thought, don't. Because I've got enough to deal with right now." She added as Starlight opened her mouth.

A crosswind had kicked up at Thornwell and Columbia swerved a bit on landing. She only slowed her pace down slightly as she rejoined her sister and Thornwell at the hangers. "I got six sir." She panted. "That's better than none Columbia." Thornwell said. "But if I had just repaired the engine first then maybe..." She protested. "There's no use guessing how that would've worked." He replied, placing a hand on her side. He pulled it back almost immediately. "Head to the showers and cool off. We'll have the setup ready for you when you're done." He said. "We need a way to cut back the turnaround time." Columbia said. "We could cut it back by rolling the stack out to the pad before you're attached." Discovery said. "But then how will we get her on?" Thornwell asked. "We can't bring the cranes out there." "You don't have to." Columbia interjected. "I'll jump onto that stack if need be. Anything to get it moving faster." "Alright. We'll get the stack moving out to the pad. You hit the showers. I can't tell if you're overheating or not but you're far too warm for my comfort level." "Understood sir." Columbia sighed and loped off. She was still fleet footed but there was a noticeable lag in her stride. She was tiring.


End file.
